Чем занять и порадовать свой мозг на грядущей неделе? Представляем вашему вниманию наш список книг, в которые было бы приятно и полезно погрузиться весенним днем или вечером)
Elementary
Alice in Wonderland!
Всем давно знакомая с детства книга - но вы уверены, что помните хорошо хотя бы половину сюжета? Вот она, ловушка “всем известных” книг, которые на деле остаются часто менее распробованными, чем их менее популярные “собратья”.
А еще, в качестве (рекламы), хочу привести несколько необычных фактов об этой книге
На фото - Алиса Лидделл
И, как обычно, отрывок, на котором вы можете попробовать свои силы:
Alice and her big sister sat under a tree one sunny day. Alice's sister had a book, but Alice had nothing with her. She looked at her sister's book. There were no pictures or conversations in it.
'Why is she reading a book without pictures or conversations?' she thought. 'I'm bored. I know! I'll look for some flowers.' Then she thought,' No, it's too hot for that and I feel sleepy'
Suddenly, a white rabbit ran past her. It took a watch from its jacket and looked at it.' Oh! Oh ! I'm going to be late!' it said.
' That's strange! A rabbit with a watch!' said Alice.
She jumped up and ran after the animal. It ran down a large rabbit-hole, so Alice went down the hole too. She didn't stop and ask,' How am I going to get out again ?'
Alice fell down and down. But she fell very slowly and didn't feel afraid. 'What's going to happen next?' she wondered.
She looked round. There were cupboards in the walls of the rabbit-hole. Some of the cupboards were open, and there were books in them. Sometimes she saw pictures. She looked down, but she couldn't see any light.
Down, down, down. 'When will the hole end?' she wondered. Perhaps I'm going to come out in Australia! I'll have to ask the name of the country. " Please, madam, is this Australia or New Zealand?" No, I can't do that. They'll think I'm stupid.'
She thought about her cat, Dinah. 'What's Dinah doing? Will they remember her milk tonight? Oh, Dinah! Why aren't you here with me ? Perhaps there's a mouse here and you can eat it!'
Intermediate
The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
Может быть, это сентиментально; но иногда тянет почитать и что-то такое, не правда ли?)
«Таинственный сад» — роман англо-американской писательницы Фрэнсис Элизы Бёрнетт. Впервые был опубликован по частям, начиная с осени 1910; полностью был впервые опубликован в виде книги в 1911.
О чем же книга? В двух словах - it’s about a neglected, unloved 10-year-old girl, born in India to wealthy British parents who never wanted her. After a cholera epidemic kills her parents and the servants, Mary is discovered alive but alone in the empty house. She goes to live with Archibald Craven, a rich uncle whom she has never met, at his isolated house, Misselthwaite Manor.
At first the girl dislikes her new home, the people living in it and everything around her. But then one day a kind servant tells Mary about Mary's aunt, Lilias Craven, who would spend hours in a private garden growing roses. Mrs Craven died after an accident in the garden, and Mr Craven locked the garden and buried the key. Mary becomes interested in finding the secret garden - and that’s how the transformation begins...
Сложно? Чтобы помочь вам понять этот небольшой текст, приведу небольшой глоссарик:
neglected - тот, кем пренебрегают
Mary is discovered - Мэри обнаруживают
locked the garden - запер сад на ключ
buried the key - зарыл ключ в землю
Наконец, небольшой отрывок:
Nobody seemed to care about Mary. She was born in India, where her father was a British official. He was busy with his work, and her mother, who was very beautiful, spent all her time going to parties. So an Indian woman, Kamala, was paid to take care of the little girl. Mary was not a pretty child. She had a thin angry face and thin yellow hair. She was always giving orders to Kamala, who had to obey. Mary never thought of other people, but only of herself. In fact, she was a very selfish, disagreeable, bad-tempered little girl.
One very hot morning, when she was about nine years old, she woke up and saw that instead of Kamala there was a different Indian servant by her bed.
“What are you doing here?” she asked crossly. “Go away! And send Kamala to me at once!”
The woman looked afraid. “I’m sorry, Miss Mary, she – she – she can’t come!”
Something strange was happening that day. Some of the house servants were missing and everybody looked frightened. But nobody told Mary anything, and Kamala still did not come. So at last Mary went out into the garden, and played by herself under a tree. She pretended she was making her own flower garden, and picked large red flowers to push into the ground. All the time she was saying crossly to herself, “I hate Kamala! I’ll hit her when she comes back!”
Just then she saw her mother coming into the garden, with a young Englishman. They did not notice the child, who listened to their conversation.
“It’s very bad, is it?” her mother asked the young man in a worried voice.
“Very bad,” he answered seriously. “People are dying like flies. It’s dangerous to stay in this town. You should go to the hills, where there’s no disease.”
“Oh, I know!” she cried. “We must leave soon!”
Advanced
На этот раз я предложу вам кое-что немножко более простое, чем просто средний уровень. Мы возьмем книге уровня Upper Intermediate - но, думаю, вы не пожалееете об этом).
Taste and Other Tales by Robert Dahl
Пару слов об авторе:
Роальд Даль — британский писатель норвежского происхождения, автор романов, сказок и новелл, поэт и сценарист. Обладатель многочисленных наград и премий по литературе. Его рассказы знамениты неожиданными концовками, а детские книги — отсутствием сентиментальности и часто — чёрным юмором. Звучит интригующе, правда?
Теперь - несколько слов о самой книге, теперь уже по-английски:
These strange and unusual stories were written by a man who is one of the most popular storytellers of our time. All the stories in this book have wonderfully inventive story lines with a twist in the tail. The characters are ordinary and respectable on the surface, but many of them have an unexpectedly dark and cruel side to their personality.
Я не буду переводить это на русский, но в качестве подсказки дам вам крошечный глоссарий:
inventive - затейливый, оригинальный
a twist in the tail - неожиданный поворот (сюжета) в конце
on the surface - снаружи, на поверхности
unexpectedly - неожиданно
И - традиционный отрывок, “попробуй, как оно”:
There were six of us at dinner that night at Mike Schofield's house in London: Mike and his wife and daughter, my wife and I, and a man called Richard Pratt.
Richard Pratt was famous for his love of food and wine. He was president of a small society known as the Epicures, and each month he sent privately to its members information about food and wines. He organized dinners where wonderful dishes and rare wines were served. He refused to smoke for fear of harming his ability to taste, and when discussing a wine, he had a strange habit of describing it as if it were a living being. 'A sensible wine,' he would say, 'rather shy but quite sensible.' Or, 'A goodhumoured wine, kind and cheerful - slightly rude perhaps, but still good-natured.'
I had been to dinner at Mike's twice before when Richard Pratt was there, and on each occasion Mike and his wife had cooked a very special meal for the famous epicure. And this one, clearly, was to be no exception. The yellow roses on the dining table, the quantity of shining silver, the three wine glasses to each person and, above all, the faint smell of roasting meat from the kitchen brought on a strong desire for the immediate satisfaction of my hunger.
